The 5 most pressing questions Kansas fans are asking as the college basketball trial comes to a close

By Matt Tait     Oct 17, 2018

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Fans file through the doors of Allen Fieldhouse past the statue of Phog Allen in this file photo from Monday, Oct. 27, 2014.

With closing arguments in the college basketball corruption trial slated for today and things landing in the hands of a jury later this week, it’s time to start sorting out what we know — and a lot of what we don’t know — in the wake of the past few weeks.

The main questions are obvious and seem relevant to everyone associated with college basketball.

**1. What is the NCAA going to do with the information that came out in the trial and is the NCAA truly interested in fixing the current system?**

This is quite possibly the toughest question to answer because (a) no one really knows what the NCAA is thinking right now and (b) it might not be able to do anything about any of it until late 2019 or early 2020, after the entire FBI investigation — trials and all — is finished.

We know that the NCAA, should it want to, will be able to use anything that came out in the trial(s) in its own investigation without having to start from scratch. So that certainly could speed up any action it might take, be it rule changes, punishments, what have you.

The big question there is, if this thing continues to grow, and more and more marquee programs are dragged into it, how much will the NCAA really *want* to act when doing so could hurt its own bottom line?

The powers that be at the NCAA figure to have time to think about that. And the full picture has not yet been painted. So making any set-in-stone predictions about what might or might not change still seems a little premature.

You’ve got people in both camps, from fans and media members to coaches and college basketball administrators and everyone in between. Some say things have to change. Others say they likely won’t, even if they should.

Money and power will continue to drive this thing. And until that is no longer the case, it’s hard to envision any drastic changes taking place.

**2. Why haven’t Nike and the schools with which it has apparel deals been dragged into this yet?**

There are a couple of things worth remembering here. No. 1: Even on the Adidas level, we’re only talking about a handful of people being involved in this. A few former execs, a couple of middlemen and a few assistant coaches. That’s it. So even though the whole thing has blown up, it’s not as if dozens and dozens of people with ties to Adidas are coming forward or have been proven to be involved with anything illegal.

Now take that same thought over to Nike and do it while remembering that Nike is still king and has more money, power and resources in the shoe game and athletics in general.

[Duke being pulled in via the Zion Williamson talk on Tuesday evening][1] is definitely interesting and could spark federal investigators to start looking that direction a little more. And there’s no telling where that could lead. But there are more than a few people out there who believe that the NCAA — different than the FBI, but still — will want no part of really digging on Duke.

Oregon, another Nike school, already has been mentioned, as have a couple of others, Arizona, Washington and Oklahoma State the biggest among them. But, to date, it’s only the Adidas crew that’s on trial. Under Armour, through its association with Maryland and Silvio De Sousa’s recruitment, also has been pulled into the public eye.

Will there be more where that came from? Time will tell.

But the one thing that seems certain to me is this: If the NCAA is truly interested in fixing things — we’re already back to Question 1 now — then it seems highly likely that Nike and a handful of Nike schools will be pulled further into this mess. They simply have to be. Because not doing so would not be construed as a real attempt at, first, finding all of the problems, and, second, fixing them.

It’s hard to know what, if anything, would turn up. But in the interest of being thorough, they have to look.

If the NCAA prefers to continue to look the other way and hopes this thing just blows over like so many other scandals from the past — and that is still a very real option, by the way, Rice Commission be damned — then it would become much more likely that Nike will never be dragged all the way in. Same for Under Armour, of course, which operates on a smaller scale but is definitely a player.

Now, let’s get to the more KU-centric questions at hand. And the top three, in my eyes, are obvious.

**3. First, is KU assistant coach Kurtis Townsend in real trouble here?**

[Well, what came out on Tuesday night certainly looks bad on the surface and figures to lead to Townsend having to answer some pretty pointed questions from his bosses,][2] in the best-case scenario, and federal investigators and NCAA officials in the worst.

So the short answer is yes. He’s definitely put himself in a bad spot. But at least as of today — or, more specifically, as of the time I wrote this around 11:40 a.m. — it seems just as likely that Townsend will be fine as it does that he’ll be in trouble.

Call it 50-50, but don’t let the good side of that 50 hide the fact that the bad side of that 50 could very well lead to Townsend losing his job. There’s a long way to go before that becomes a reality, but you can’t say it’s not in play.

The biggest thing he has going for him — and, really, his only defense at this point — is his ability to look people in the eye and tell anyone and everyone who asks that he was merely saying what he had to say during the Williamson recruitment to stay in the game.

Good recruiters, which Townsend is, are masters at that, which buys them as much time to pitch their program as possible.

It will be hard for Townsend to prove that’s all he was doing there. But it’s likely even harder for anyone to prove he was doing more.

Unless, of course, there are more recordings that come out and enlighten us further, providing more concrete proof than we have currently.

**4. Next, and this isn’t one I’ve heard much about but certainly have thought a lot about during the few days: Might all of this speed up KU coach Bill Self’s desire to move on, be it to retirement or the NBA?**

[Self said a couple of years ago that he wanted to coach out the remainder of his five-year contract, see where he was then and added that the rest would be gravy.][3] He also said at that time that he didn’t see himself coaching deep into his 60s.

So that alone put a little bit of a timeline on things for the soon-to-be 56-year-old KU coach. But this kind of stuff, and the stress and scrutiny that comes with it, absolutely has me believing that Self’s timeline has been sped up.

I’m not saying that the 2018-19 season will be his last at KU. Not by a long shot. And I don’t have any information one way or the other about what he’s thinking. But before this investigation hit, I would’ve put the number at another 5 or 6 years and now I’m thinking it’s closer to 2 or 3.

Self’s a competitive guy who loves basketball and loves KU. But he’s won at the highest level of the college game, has cemented his legacy at Kansas, has millions to his name and already is in the Hall of Fame.

The man enjoys all of the other elements of his life — family, golf, friends, travel, etc. — way too much to have things of this nature become a regular part of his world.

Plus, if ever he missed coaching, there would be no shortage of programs and pro teams lining up ready to give him the chance to hop back in.

**5. Finally, all of this KU involvement presents one last question that’s a lot more about other programs than it is about KU. And that is: To what extent will opposing coaches use the trial and KU’s involvement on the recruiting trail?**

Well, they’ll certainly try. And that’s nothing new. Opposing coaches have used negative recruiting practices for years to try to throw a chink in KU’s armor. And you see how well that has worked.

This might be different simply because the federal government got involved. But what won’t be different is the way Self and his staff handle it.

If and when parents and recruits ask how things are going or if they should be worried or if what Coach X from Program Y told them is true, Self will continue to be the same charming, reassuring presence he has been for the past few decades and will explain things in such a clear, clean and positive light for Kansas and the kid that it will be next to impossible for the families to remain worried.

And while we’re talking about who’s worried here, remember, it’s often only the parents who truly think about these things. The recruits themselves, you have to remember, are still 16, 17, 18 years old, and are usually more focused on what the dorms look like, what gear they’ll get, what trips they’ll take and how they fit in with the players and staff members who are there. The rest is just white noise.

I recently talked to a couple of recruiting analysts who said this type of thing just does not register for most of the athletes actually being recruited.

Again, it’s possible that the high-profile nature of the FBI investigation and the fear of what might happen down the line when the NCAA gets its turn to act, could create a different vibe and raise some new, bright red flags.

And, perhaps most likely, there’s a very real chance that some recruits just might cross Kansas off early and not even go down that road to begin with.

But the smart money, at least for the next couple of years until the NCAA gets to show its hand, is on KU continuing to go after and get many of the same types of players it has gotten for the past three decades.

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2018/oct/16/college-basketball-corruption-trial-begin-closing-/
[2]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2018/oct/16/tom-keegan-does-kansas-have-clean-basketball-progr/
[3]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2017/sep/21/how-much-longer-will-bill-self-coach/

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.